Friday, April 21, 2017

I worked a looooong day and I am still not finished with the custom job on the frame. My eyes are a bit goofy from all the close work, too, so I had to stop at 6 and focus on something a bit farther away; the yard!

Some of the tedious, but pretty, filler.

The quilting is slow going because of the metallic thread.

Mr Wazoo quilted for a short time (just long enough to do this baby quilt) then took off for Home Depot for garden supplies. When he does that, its all over but the shoutin' as far as quilting is concerned. The siren song of dirt, grass and mulch is strong!

When I quit for the day, I toured the yard and gardens, taking a few pictures and enjoying the warm breeze and scent of the roses.

Mr W quilted this little bear before heading outside.

Panto: Popcorn

The man gave Molly a bath, and then she did what we affectionally call 'dog rug'.

Right outside the studio

The hillside garden

The roses have just exploded with blooms!They smell heavenly.

Aren't these lovely?

These look pink in all the pictures, but they are red!I don't know why the camera sees them as pink...

Looking toward the road

The iris is going crazy, too. Lots more buds still to open!

The mountain view from the garden

The grass in the back yard is much plusher and green. The soil back here has been augmented by the gardener! The rock garden takes care of itself. Most of the plants wake up a bit later than the side garden.

Mr W putting away the tractor for the night. He's a happy man.

My friend Georgia has a beautiful dog. She is always trying to get a nice photo of him, but he doesn't like to look at the camera. I thought I would take Molly's picture today, and she does the same thing! Every time I point the camera at her, she looks away, or shakes her head, or sticks out her tongue! I gave up after several weird shots. I'll get one when she least expects it!

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Another wonderfully warm and breezy day here in Georgia! Mr Wazoo spent the entire day performing maintenance on his machine after many thread breaks. It kept him busy, and was good for the machine! Win-win situation.

Maintenance in progress

After tuning up his machine, Mr W got busy on this quilt.

I prepared the next custom quilt, ironing the backing and loading it on my table. The stitch in the ditch took most of the day, and I started the quilting at 5 PM. I was so excited to get going on the quilting, I accidentally quilted several squares that I didn't intend to. Oops!! I picked the stitching out, then quit for the day.

Ready for the quilting.

At 6:00, I sewed the two borders to the bee quilt, and I think it is very sophisticated looking! Makes me happy.

Boxed squares

Here are the two border fabrics.

We had another rainstorm last night, and the roses loved it!! I couldn't believe how quickly they budded and bloomed!! The iris and peonies are not far behind. I love Mr Wazoo's gardens. There is always a surprise there.

The red and yellow roses are blooming like crazy!

More iris coming, too.

Mr W is putting on the peony hoops. This year's crop of buds is impressive!

A few leftovers for supper, some Netflix, and off to bed! Until tomorrow...

Monday, April 17, 2017

Not a lot of conversation in the studio today, just loads of work. Mr Wazoo did three small table runners before heading outside, and I spent the entire day (almost...) on this storm at sea quilt. The customer wanted the two heart shapes in the piecing to stand out in the quilting. It was a light custom job, so there was no stitch in the ditch and oodles of swirly background quilting. I did the entire job free motion. It is easier for me and requires less planning and time. Very freeing!

Three table runners, all with different pantos.

Storm at sea quilt. The quilting doesn't show up well on the fabrics. I used gold thread for the borders and background. Fuchsia / purple variegated for the two heart shapes.

Thankfully, she put a safety pin in the center of the hearts so I could identify them!Here is the brown one...

this is the purple one.

Doesn't show much on the back, either.

Squint, and you may be able to make out the quilting.

Yesterday, when the camera battery died, I didn't get to take a photo of the quilt blocks I made. I put them on the design wall before leaving the studio for the night.

Boxed square pattern from Mary Quilts.Its a free pattern I have made several times.

After I finished the big customer quilt, I sewed the blocks together into the quilt top. If I have any time tomorrow, I'll add the two planned borders. The fabrics are from jelly roll of fabrics with honey bee related prints. I plan to finish the quilt and gift it to a friend who always gives me a jar of honey from their farm in Michigan when she picks up her quilts. She is a quilting customer and all around nice lady.

All sewn together!I moved some of the blocks around for better color balance.

Miss Molly said it was time to go upstairs and have her supper!Who can turn down a face like that?!

We got up this morning and had our own sunrise Easter reflection on the front porch. The sunrise was beautiful, it was cool and birds were singing in the woods. What a glorious day.
After a weekend brunch, I went to work in the studio and Mr Wazoo had his day off doing yard work.
First, I finished the Medici quilt he had on his machine and got it trimmed and ready to ship. I finished the Hawaiian quilt and it is also ready to go home. Then, I cleaned up the studio and had some 'me' time!

This one was a challenge I am glad to have conquered

It is always a bit disheartening to do oodles of quilting on busy fabric...you can't see it!

All the blocks are quilted like the pictures in the customer's book.

The backing is another great Hawaiian print.

All the cornerstones have this hibiscus flower.

Here is the Medici quilt right side up!

Fleur-de-lis

Pnto: Feathers and flowers

Once the work was finished, it was time for fun. I quilted and applied binding to my hummingbird quilt so the handwork can be done in front of the TV later. As long as I was in binding mode, I put the bindings on the two charity quilts Mr W did during the week. These had machine finishing for more durability.

All quilted!

A new panto...can't remember the name, but it was a freebie! I like that.

The design has echoed hearts both up and down.

I had this backing fabric in the stash. Funky!

There wasn't enough of any of the fabrics in the quilt for the binding, so I chose this white and blue dot fabric. Looks good!

With every picture, I got the 'change battery' warning. Drat! Here are the afternoon pics before the total shutdown.

Working on binding

I got a new quilt cut out, and even have the blocks half done!

Everything folded and ready to go!

Lily of the valley. A gift from Mr W, who knows they remind me of my Wisconsin home.

The iris has started blooming, too!

Another beautiful lilac is showing off.

It was getting a bit too dark for pictures, but this ground cover was especially nice.

Another new lilac and five little something-or-another plants.You can tell gardening is not my hobby!Molly is itching to get her kibble and the camera battery is nearly dead.Must be time for Easter rib dinner!!